As semiconductor device geometries continue to decrease, the importance of ultra clean processing increases. Aqueous cleaning within a tank of fluid (or a bath) followed by a rinsing process (e.g., by submersing the substrate in rinsing fluid, or by spraying the substrate with rinsing fluid) achieves desirable cleanliness levels. However, after rinsing is complete, absent use of a drying apparatus, the rinsing fluid would evaporate from the substrate's surface causing streaking, spotting and/or leaving bath residue on the surface of the substrate. Such streaking, spotting and residue can cause subsequent device failure. Accordingly, much attention has been directed to improved methods for drying a substrate after a final rinsing step.
In addition to providing streak-free drying, such methods should be capable of quickly drying the substrate so as to increase throughput, and should not present a bottleneck for the overall substrate processing system.
Accordingly, a need exists for a method and apparatus that quickly and reliably rinses and dries a substrate such as a semiconductor substrate.